Led by the irrepressible Kemba Walker of The Bronx and the strong-willed coach Jim Calhoun, the Huskies are making a shocking return trip to Final Four after scoring a hard-fought 65-63 victory over the Arizona Wildcats and their rabid fans in the West Region finals.

Connecticut’s win sends Calhoun and Co. to Houston for its fourth Final Four and the first since 2009. They will meet the winner of today’s East Region final between North Carolina and Kentucky.

“These brothers, this unique group of young guys, have just given me a thrill beyond compare,” Calhoun said.

Walker the Warrior, who finished with a team-high 20 points and was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the region, actually needed a 30-second rest in the second half.

With 3:07 left, after Jeremy Lamb turned a clutch steal into a slam dunk, Walker draped his arm around the clutch freshman and allowed himself to be dragged to the UConn bench.

Walker wasn’t as efficient as he had been in other games in this tournament or in the Big East tournament when he led the Huskies to five wins in five nights. He was 7-of-17 and just 1-of-7 on 3-pointers, but he had four rebounds and seven assists.

“Never could I have imagined a team winning nine games in tournament play in 19 days,” Calhoun said.

When Walker missed a shot from straight away, Arizona called a timeout with 18.2 seconds left. The Wildcats got off two open 3s that might have won the game — Derrick Williams (20 points, five rebounds) from the top of the key and Jamelle Horne from the corner — but both clanged off the rim.

“It was scary, honestly,” Walker said. “Derrick, his shot was long and somebody tapped it out. Jamelle Horne, he just found himself open. When his shot went up, I said it out loud, ‘Game Time.’ Everything was in slow motion.”

It was a riveting game between two relentless teams throwing haymakers. Arizona jumped out to an 18-10 lead only to have Connecticut respond with a 15-2 run.

Arizona (30-8) used a 14-5 run to take a 55-52 lead with 6:36 left. The Wildcats did most of their damage on the glass. They outrebounded Connecticut 42-31 including 19 offensive boards.

But Connecticut (30-9) responded with a 10-0 spurt, culminating with Lamb’s steal and dunk.

“One of the things that I really learned today coaching against UConn for the first time, you can’t underestimate their poise,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “Poise isn’t just Kemba Walker. Poise is the entire UConn team.”

But the Wildcats, who have embraced the New York toughness of point guard Lamont “MoMo” Jones of Harlem and forward Kevin Parrom of The Bronx, also showed poise.

They got back to back 3-pointers to close to 65-63. The

Honda Center sounded like 1,000 engines being revved. But the Wildcats’ final two treys didn’t drop and suddenly Walker was hugging his teammates.

“I always felt that the NCAA was always trying to pick on UConn for some reason,” Walker said, referring to the investigation that landed UConn on probation for excessive phone calls and game tickets.

“They had us picked 10th in the Big East,” Walker said. “They had us not making the tournament, stuff like that. It was just extra motivation for me and my teammates.”